Risky Business

By madis senner

Helping the Needy Was Risky

Because a majority of Americans were kept in the dark about the devastating affects of the Iraqi sanctions they have no knowledge of the dangers involved with helping those in Iraq. Dangers that went well beyond that so-called 'evil doer" Saddam Hussein. Dangers that created an enormous challenge to those brave enough to tackle them.

The Bush administration itself is a testimony to the difficulty of managing oil revenues in Iraq, remember it was the oil for food program that was designed to blunt the devastation of the sanctions. On October 23, 2003 Christian Aid reported ('Iraq The Missing Billions') that billions of dollars of oil revenue had gone missing:

"A staggering US$4 billion in oil revenues and other Iraqi funds earmarked for the reconstruction of the country has disappeared into opaque bank accounts administered by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the US-controlled body that rules Iraq. By the end of the year, if nothing changes in the way this cash is accounted for, that figure will double… "

" The fact that no independent body knows where this cash has gone is in direct violation of the UN resolution that released much of it for the rebuilding of Iraq's shattered infrastructure. The agency that is supposed to oversee these funds has not even been set up yet…"

" 'This is Iraqi money. The people of Iraq must know where it is going and it should be used for the benefit of all the country's people - particularly the poorest,' said Roger Riddell, Christian Aid's international director…"

" 'We have absolutely no idea how the money [from Iraqi oil revenues] has been spent,' one senior European diplomat to the UN told Christian Aid. 'I wish I knew, but we just don't know. We have absolutely no idea.'"

" The missing billions are a combination of pre- and post-war oil revenues now controlled by the CPA, plus seized Iraqi government assets and funds vested overseas. Conservative estimates put the total at US$5 billion, of which less than US$1 billion can be accounted for. Estimated oil revenues between now and the end of the year are expected to total a further US$4 billion. "

Saddam and his henchmen would often redirect (steal) aid to the needy for their own personal use. Anecdotes abound on how Saddam's Bath party loyalists would either confiscate goods or send their family members to clinics to maker sure that they got the bulk of the aid. On September 25, 2000 Newsmax reported that 'Saddam Selling UN's Humanitarian Drugs on Black Market':

" Medicine meant for children, shipped to Iraq as part of a United Nations humanitarian aid program, are being smuggled out of the country and sold on Lebanon's black market to fatten Saddam Hussein's purse. "

" The British Drug Company Glaxo-Wellcome has filed complaints with both the British Foreign Office and the U.N. A company spokesman told London's Telegraph newspaper that Glaxo-Wellcome has traced 15,000 units of the anti-asthma drug Ventolin, sent to Iraq under the U.N.'s food program, to the Lebanon black market. "

" Moreover, the company found that the purloined drugs were shipped to Lebanon in trucks belonging to the Iraqi Ministry of Transport, a fact which they say shows that the smuggling operation is "being masterminded at the highest levels" and casts doubt on the Iraqi dictator's claim that people are dying in Iraq because of shortages caused by the trade embargo imposed in 1991 after the invasion of Kuwait. "

There was always risk of death to those caught, and to their family, for providing aid within Iraq. Consider the words of Ikbal Alshafei of St. Louis, whose cousin Hussein Alshafei of Seattle was charged with breaking the sanctions for helping Iraqi's send money back home:

" "He said he could never afford to send much money home because he makes only $300 a week as a parking attendant at St. John's Mercy Medical Center, and he would never dare send money directly, because if Saddam found out he was sending money, his family could be in jeopardy. "

"Saddam had Alshafei's brother killed in 1985 and his father killed in 1987, he said. "Anything you say they don't like and you are gone," said Alshafei, who is married and has two young boys. "You are dead." ' Iraqi native accused of sending money home ordered held'," PETER SHINKLE AND JEREMY KOHLER, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 25, 2002

Clearly dangers abounded within Iraq to those committed to helping the needy. How would a person of faith and compassion tackle those dangers?

Fed"s Imply a Ripoff?, Terrorism? A Shill?

"Help the Needy and Help the Needy Endowment, claiming it would help starving and oppressed Iraqis, prosecutors said. "

" An undetermined amount of the donations went elsewhere in Iraq, U.S. Attorney Glenn Suddaby said. "

" Suddaby would not say how federal prosecutors know the donations didn't go for humanitarian aid. "

" Charities that send humanitarian aid to Iraq need a license from the U.S. office of foreign asset control to send money or goods to Iraq. Help the Needy had no such license, he said. "

" You can move money through charitable means into Iraq if you do it the right way," he said. "It kind of begs the question: You go through all this effort, why wouldn't you do it legally, if that truly was your intent?" …."

" Federal agents searched Dhafir's office in Rome and his home in Manlius, along with seven other sites across Central New York. They searched for financial records, mailing lists, contribution records and "literature supporting "jihad' or "holy wars,"' according to a news release. Agents executed search warrants at a computer business in Troy, N.Y., and at the home of Mohammed Ebrahim in Portsmouth, N.H. "

" Suddaby said there's no evidence that any of the Help the Needy money went to al-Qaida, the Iraqi government, or to buy arms and bullets that could be used against U.S. soldiers. "

" "We don't have answers to those questions yet," he said. "

" Federal investigators tracked the money through bank records, but once it got to Iraq, it became impossible to trace, he said"

" "The indictment alleges that money has gone in an improper way to areas that we know are not for charitable organizations," Suddaby said…"

" The indictment accuses the four men and their charities of misrepresenting the intended use of the donations. "

" "The donors to Help the Needy have been victimized," said special FBI agent Keith DeVincentis. "They believed they were providing funds to a charitable organization." " U.S. SAYS CNY CHARITY BROKE IRAQ SANCTIONS; 4 MEN WITH LOCAL TIES ARE CHARGED. The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), Feb 27, 2003 pA1; John O'Brien Staff writer; Staff writers Renee K. Gadoua and Jim Reilly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

" A Syracuse charity that was supposed to be sending money to starving children in Iraq instead helped fund two organizations that the federal government says were financing terrorist groups, according to investigators. "

" That was among the revelations in more than 150 pages of court documents unsealed Tuesday by a federal judge. The papers filed by federal prosecutors in U.S. District Court also include these claims: "

" Some of the money that people donated to the charity Help the Needy was sent to Iraq to relatives of two of the four men charged last week with violating U.S. sanctions against Iraq. " FEDS: IRAQI RELATIVES GOT MONEY; SOME CHARITY MONEY WENT TO BUY PROPERTY IN SYRACUSE, FEDERAL DOCUMENTS SAY. The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), March 5, 2003 pA1 Byline: John O'Brien and John Mariani /Staff writers Renee K. Gadoua and Jim Reilly contributed to this report